Mrs. Meir Reiterates Israel’s Objection to Big 4; Eban Critical of U.S. Concepts

Premier Golda Meir has reiterated Israel’s unwillingness to accept any Big Four agreement on a solution to the Mideast conflict. In an interview on Kol Israel, the new Premier told the nation that an agreement between the major powers was hard to conceive, but even if it was reached, “we shall not accept it,” Mrs. Meir said despite certain differences with the U.S. on a Mideast peace settlement, Washington supports Israel’s position on a number of basic issues.

Two such areas of agreement, she said, were: No withdrawal from occupied territories before peace is reached; the 1949 armistice lines cannot be Israel’s future borders.

Foreign Minister Abba Eban, on a television interview, was critical of certain aspects of Washington’s working paper for the Big Four which sets forth tentative suggestions on a Mideast settlement. “The most serious deterioration in the American position,” he said, “is that a paper which does not meet many of Israel’s demands should be regarded by the Americans as a basis for discussion with the three other powers. None of the latter can be expected to be more amenable to Israel’s wishes” than is the U.S. Interference by outside powers on crucial questions that must be resolved by the Arabs and Israel. Mr. Eban said, is damaging in that it may force the contending Mideast parties into arrangements which only they themselves should work out and agree upon.

“The main difference between our stand and that of the U.S. is that the latter feels the time has already come to discuss Israel’s future borders.” Mr. Eban said. “To this we reply: We shall not negotiate with the U.S. over borders. There has been no war between Israel and the U.S. We have no common border. Why should Israel conduct negotiations with the U.S. over territorial matters? Such negotiations should be held with the neighboring Arab states.”

(Informed diplomats in Washington have said that the American paper was deliberately phrased in ambiguous language in order to make possible flexibility in interpretation for later changes. It called, among other things, for a “rectification” in pre-June, 1967 Israel borders.) Mr. Eban saw “calculated imprecision” in the American statements on the Jerusalem question. (The U.S. spoke of a unified Jerusalem and mentioned giving Jordan some voice in the economic, social and political life of the city.) Mr. Eban apparently took heart from U.S. statements “that the city should not be divided again.”

The Foreign Minister said that Israel does not accept the American view that Palestinian refugees should be given the freedom of choice of receiving compensation for their lost lands or returning to Israel. Secretary of State Rogers had agreed to Israel’s view that security considerations could preclude the return of Arabs to Israel and that Israel would reserve decision on individual cases, he said. “However, even that is not enough,” he said. “The whole principle is wrong and Israel will continue opposing it. The refugee problem must be solved on a regional basis when there is peace.”

EBAN REPORTEDLY TELLS JARRING HIS MISSION IS SOLE ACCEPTABLE PEACE FRAMEWORK

Mr. Eban reportedly voiced anxiety to Dr. Jarring Tuesday, that attention had been diverted from the UN peace envoy’s Mideast mission. Meeting here with Secretary-General U Thant’s special representative, Mr. Eban was said to have noted that Israel still considered Dr. Jarring as the authoritative international framework to deal with the Mideast problem, despite the Big Four Talks. Mr. Eban gave Dr. Jarring Israel’s replies to a questionnaire dealing with peace issues which the envoy had circulated among Israel and the Arab states. It was learned that the answers were based on Mr. Eban’s speech last October to the UN General Assembly in which he presented a nine-point program for peace and regional cooperation. Mr. Eban was said to have given no new positions and to have refused to be drawn into territorial questions. However, the sources said that Israel’s refusal to regard the present cease-fire lines as “secure and recognized boundaries” mentioned in the UN Security Council’s Nov. 22, 1967 resolution means that other frontiers may be envisaged.

The Foreign Minister suggested that the Arab refugee problem may be discussed in special meetings with the Arabs because of its humanitarian considerations and that these meetings need not take place within the framework of peace negotiations. Mr. Eban reiterated Israel’s willingness to hold discussions with Arab leaders under Dr. Jarring’s auspices. He was said to have reiterated Israel’s acceptance of the 1967 resolution but stressed that any implementation of its clauses must follow an Arab-Israel agreement and should be in the form of peace treaties signed by the parties after direct negotiations between them. Arriving in Israel, Dr. Jarring refused to comment on reporters’ questions on the Big Four talks, but when asked if he was optimistic about the results of his mission said, “I am continuing my mission. You can make of it whatever you wish.”

Jews of all shades of religious belief celebrated Passover yesterday, the festival marking the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, which is known in modern Israel as the “Feast of Freedom.” They were joined by a record number of tourists, Jewish and non-Jewish, who chose to be in Israel for Passover or Easter.

Yesterday Orthodox Jews marched from the teeming Meah Shearim quarter of West Jerusalem to the Western Wall in the Old City to offer prayers and hold an outdoor seder. A new prayer was added to the ritual observed by Israelis this year. It was composed by Rabbi Isser Unterman, the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi and gave thanks for the victories of Israel which secured freedom for the Jewish people. It also contained a reminder of the suffering that many Jews endure in foreign countries, specifically the Arab lands, and of the lack of religious freedom for Jews in Russia.

Passover greetings were received here from Rabbi Yehuda Leib Levin of Moscow’s Central Synagogue and Chief Rabbi Moses Rosen of Rumania. Newly arrived immigrants were guests at seders held by the Jewish Agency, local organizations and private families. Soldiers on leave who have no families were guests at a seder conducted by the Soldiers Welfare Fund at military hostels in Tel Aviv and Beersheba.